A daily pill has been shown to double survival time in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, according to results from a clinical trial hailed as a 'gamechanger' by experts. The drug, daraxonrasib, targets a protein called Kras that fuels nearly all pancreatic cancers, offering new hope for a disease with limited treatment options.
The trial, involving 500 patients whose pancreatic cancer had spread, found that those taking daraxonrasib lived an average of 13.2 months, compared with 6.6 to 6.7 months for those on chemotherapy. The findings were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting in Chicago.
Dr Rachna Shroff, chief of oncology at the University of Arizona Cancer Center, described the results as 'landscape-changing' and said she wept when she first read them. 'We are seeing unprecedented survival,' she said. Dr Julie Gralow, Asco’s chief medical officer, called it a 'grand slam' for patients.
Daraxonrasib works by gluing molecules together to shut down the Kras protein, which drives cancer growth. More than 90% of patients with the most common form of pancreatic cancer have a mutation in the Kras gene. The drug is a new type of Ras inhibitor that can turn off the protein regardless of the specific variant.
UK charities welcomed the breakthrough. Paula Hanford, chief executive of Pancreatic Cancer Action, said it was 'one of the most significant developments in treatment' she had ever seen. Anna Jewell of Pancreatic Cancer UK stressed the importance of making such drugs available to patients, noting that half of all pancreatic cancer patients die within three months of diagnosis.
